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Movies / On DVD / The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers

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The Ladykillers (1955)

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Reviews Counted:18

Fresh:18

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.5/10

Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: THE LADYKILLERS, director Alexander Mackendrick's third Ealing farce, is the final comedy produced by the famous British studio and one of its most celebrated. Like the equally applauded KIND... THE LADYKILLERS, director Alexander Mackendrick's third Ealing farce, is the final comedy produced by the famous British studio and one of its most celebrated. Like the equally applauded KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, the film is more sophisticated and blacker in tone than typically lighthearted Ealing fare (such as Mackendrick's WHISKEY GALORE!). Alec Guinness stars as the superbly shifty, toothily threatening Professor Marcus, the leader of a crime ring planning a heist. Marcus rents rooms from a sweet, eccentric old lady, Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson), in her crooked London house. The professor and his co-conspirators, blowhard Major Courtney (Cecil Parker), creepily suave Louis (Herbert Lom), chubby Harry (Peter Sellers), and muscleman One-Round (Danny Green), pose as an unlikely string quartet using the rooms for rehearsal. Dodging Mrs. Wilberforce's constant interruptions, the hoods hit upon the idea to use her in the daring daylight robbery (filmed in and around London's King's Cross station). When the old girl discovers the truth, Marcus and company cannot persuade her to stay buttoned up about it and thus decide to do her in. Accompanied by a noirish cacophony of screeching trains, parrots, and little old ladies at afternoon tea, a series of unlikely events builds to the hilarious, surprising finale. [More]

Starring: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Katie Johnson, Jack Warner

Starring: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Katie Johnson, Jack Warner, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Frankie Howerd, Danny Green

Director: Alexander Mackendrick

Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Story: William Rose
Screenwriter: William Rose

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 10, 2002

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Ladykillers

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Nothing else like it.

comment Comment
05/08/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/01/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Director Alexander Mackendrick ... reached a masterful apex of sorts with this wickedly hilarious movie's precise balance of situational comedy and stark murderous callousness.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/06/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
03/25/06
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

No review available.

comment Comment
07/23/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

worthy to see heavily maked-up Guinnes and pre-panther Sellers.

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment Comment
07/08/05
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is

Most of the slapstick set pieces warrant a polite smile rather than a hearty guffaw.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

No review available.

comment Comment
02/23/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Ridiculously funny dark comedy. Guinness is having way too much fun.

comment Comment
08/19/04
Widgett Walls
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com

No review available.

comment Comment
05/29/04
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
New Times

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/02/04
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/16/04
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

O delicioso humor negro é ainda mais ressaltado pelas ótimas performances de todo o elenco – em especial, de Guinness e Johnson.

comment Comment
11/22/03
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

The best of the Ealing comedies.

comment Comment
08/14/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/30/03
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
02/17/03
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Wildly funny!

comment Comment
11/24/02
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
 
 
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